...rarely manages to knit, spin, sew or photograph at the moment as she is too busy with Spud!

Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Wedding: Act One, Scene Two – Snooping Around!

I will try to keep this post short after my earlier one! The day before we got married, on Saturday 28th February, the Fella and I spent some time settling in and finding our way around Tofino. We also met with our wedding commissioner and our photographer.

Even though there were some people about in Tofino, I always find holiday destinations a little strange and desolate out of season and this will probably show in the pictures that I show you. Tofino itself is a quite a small place but it is quite well equipped with a couple of grocery stores, some interesting restaurants, gift shops, coffee places and a little arts centre which puts on theatre and cinema viewings etc.:

In the picture on the right, you can see some of the two most popular modes of local transport after large trucks - bikes and skateboards. Some people rode bikes with their skateboards strapped to their backpacks. The coast road is quite flat and a dedicated cycle path runs along the road between the holiday parks and Tofino, which I think is excellent.

On one of the days that we were there, the wave warning danger was increased from High to Extreme and there were not many surfers out in the water. Instead, as we drove along the road into Tofino, I spotted a skateboarder practicing his surf moves as he travelled along the cycle path. Now, that's dedication to your sport, eh?!

We went for a decent walk along some of the beaches:

I drew a cutie heart in the sand to mark the date:

So the Fella decided that he would outdo me by doing something on a bigger scale. He raced off with a big stick...

...and I watched with interest as he started to carve my name into the sand.

...Um Fella? You seem to have spelt my name wrong! Wha'? Where?!

Opps, just let me correct that:

No really hun', I think that the tide may have a better solution?!

Here is the Fella pretending to walk away in shame...

I did extract a promise that he would get my name right on the day!

After that, we headed back to the hotel to meet with our marriage commissioner, who happened to be marrying another couple at our hotel that afternoon. So we settled into the Great Room, met our marriage commissioner and then, with a copy of the ceremony and vows in our hands, we snooped on the other couple's wedding!

On one hand, this was brilliant as it gave us both a chance to see what to expect and how the hotel set up for the ceremony. There were 12 people there for this couple's wedding and it was short, relaxed and actually, it was absolutely perfect.

On the other, it might end up serving you right if you snoop on other people when you happen to feel a bit uncertain about your own appearance and outfit (like me). It was not exactly confidence boosting to watch a gorgeous, slim, happy lady getting married in a stunning, slinky white dress! In fact, I was so worried about it all that I burst into tears over dinner that evening and ended up described my wedding outfit to the Fella. After seeing someone looking so lovely in their wedding outfit, I just did not want him to be disappointed when I trundled down the stairs the following day, looking for all the world like a beached, whitewashed oil tanker, shrink-wrapped into a plastic fantastic dress.

Now - the Fella might have spelled my name wrongly in the sand but there are some very good reasons why we got married - he knew exactly what to say to reassure me and make me feel a whole lot better!